Season 3 Episode 4 Coming Home

The news came quickly late on Sunday evening that Sister Sanovich would be returning to the US sooner than we had expected.  Even though the conditions in her mission were GREAT the Mission President received direction from the church that he needed to get the 77 missionaries currently serving in the Florianopolis Brazil mission home as soon as possible.

Letter from the mission Presidents wife
So sweet!

Today  March 26, 2020 we FINALLY received word that Sister Sanovich is on a flight headed to Los Angeles CA. Looks like it will be a LONG few hours to see when she will actually arrive in SLC, UT

I am so GRATEFUL for the power of prayer during this time of uncertainty. I realized today that we truly MUST have FAITH that everything will work out the way our Heavenly Father has planned.  We must sit back and try and ENJOY this time with our families or whomever you are close to.  

Thank You again for being on this JOURNEY with our family.  I will never be able to tell you how much it means to me and the FAMILY for the LOVE and KINDNESS while on this LAST leg of the JOURNEY to get CARLEY HOME!!!  Please take a moment in your own life to pause to look around at all the many BLESSINGS you have in your own LIFE.  It will truly change the way you look at this current situation WE ARE ALL IN.  

PLEASE stay SAFE & STRONG.  We still need each other just from a "distance."  Reach out to anyone and everyone you feel inspired to call or text.  You wont forget this time in your life I promise you!!!! 

Love you all,

Mama Nic

Season 3 Episode 2 FAITH

March 9, 2020

Olá!!! 

TUDO BEM?! 

This week was great, it passed by so quickly. Here are a few of the best parts of the week!

Monday- We all got together with some of the youth of the church to say goodbye to sister Marques, she was being transferred, so we all shared our testimonies and it was really great! We got to hear a bunch of Spanish testimonies. Haha it’s fun to be able to listen to and understand Spanish too!

Tuesday- It was not the most exciting day, but the new sister showed up! She is from Utah too, Sister Webster! She is great, she just left the CTM!  We got to know her a bit, and she is already speaking great in Portuguese. She already knew a bunch of Spanish so that definitely helps!

Wednesday- We had an interesting lesson with some of our neighbors. They were a reference from a member that lives next door to them. We planned a message that was really awesome and then we get there not knowing that the Irmão would be there.... then he starts talking and marked all the scriptures we wanted to give them in later messages for them to read in the Book of Mormon... but it went well. She made us dinner and is was really great!

Thursday- We went to lunch and there was a sister that had finished her mission there, we visited with her and mom that doesn’t speak any Portuguese, needless to say, it was interesting and reminded me when I got in the mission. Then we headed to a lesson with our investigator Flavio which is the cousin of a member! And she is married to a returned missionary, the lesson was so awesome! it was full of the spirit! I can’t explain how well the lesson went, we talked about Alma 32 that talks about faith! and Flavio was commenting and everything, it was really a sweet lesson. Then at the end, we asked him to choose who would say the prayer and he goes okay I’ll say it. Haha it was so sweet! I’m so thankful for that sweet lesson with him and how the spirit can testify in our hearts! Then they made us Tapioca, it was so fun!

Friday- Today we met a bunch of crazy people!  Literally nothing made sense hahaha we met some crazy people that we were talking to! We were asked to help a lady to set up a Gmail for her to have WhatsApp. So many people asked us if we were testemunhas deJehova (Jehova’s Witnesses);...... I can’t even tell you how many times we were asked within the last few days. Haha but we did find a rapaz (boy) that is really cool, we shared a message with him at the portão (gate) and he seemed really interested, so we will head back next week! 

Saturday- We had a churrasco (BBQ) with São Sebasitão! it was so great, literally the best churrasco I have eaten in a long time! It was so fun, unfortunately my camera died, and I couldn’t take pictures... but the memories are real! It was the best part of the day! He is progressing so much, he has stopped smoking and thanked us for helping him with these goals. 

Sunday- We ran into one of our friends that we are teaching and so we started to talk to him when then he looks at me and asks “what is your favorite thing in Floripa? in English, then I asked him and he said “so many girls, hot” he is crazy hahah I died, and it’s even better because he doesn’t speak English! hahahaha Then we went to Irmã Isabels house and talked about the barro de ferro, it was really great and we watched the videos of the LDM with her. She said that she is almost ready to come back to church. Then we headed to a less active that was a missionary and her husband that isn’t a member. They went to church, wahoo!!! and we chatted with them and it was great, they really liked coming to church and we planned to meet with them on Wednesday! and something that is really exciting is that they will be getting married this month and we all couldn’t be more excited!

This week flew by, it seems like the weeks are becoming shorter and shorter!!!

As a scripture this week I want to share Alma 32:28 it talks about FAITH and how it’s like a little seed. Each of us need to plant the seed in our hearts. This helps us strengthen our faith and our trust in the Lord. I know that it will help us become closer to him and we will see his miracles a little more in our lives

.

LOVE YOU ALL have a great week!

-Sister Sanovich

Season 3 Episode 1 12 MESES, ESTÁ PASSANDO RÁPIDO!! E MUITAS MILAGRES! (12 months, its passing so quickly!! and so many miracles

March 2, 2020

Oi amigos!!!!

This week I want to share a few miracles with all of you that happened this past week. 

We had started a fast to find more people that we could be able to teach. We were looking for a few more people to teach the other day and weren’t really having much success... But we then decided to try and visit a reference we had gotten instead. So, we were on our way and a lady stops us yelling “sisters!!!” so we end up talking to her, she served a mission and she is with a man that isn’t a member. They are getting married within the next few weeks and we are going to start teaching him! We are really excited to start teaching him and bring them both back to church. This was just one of the many answers to our prayers.

Another event that happened was that a member passed along the contact information for her cousin. So we ended up at their house and started talking to her cousin, Flavio. He was so excited to meet us and talk to us a little bit. He even went to church on Sunday with his cousin and her husband. We gave him a Book of Mormon and marked a few things for him to read. He was really excited to start reading and learn more about the gospel! 

The other sisters had an experience that they shared with us too. They have a friend they are teaching that uses a bunch of drugs, and he was really struggling this past week. They went there to visit him and shared a message and a goal with him to stop using drugs. He accepted their invitation and we had a few family nights with them this past week. He is a completely different person. He is happier and has a different light about him. The gospel changes lives!! 

I am so thankful for the power of fasting and that we really can see a bunch of miracles in our lives. I know that when we pray and ask the Lord with a sincere heart, he will answer  our prayers. He is always there for us. Don’t ever forget that! When you are feeling weak, he is there for you. 

Love you all. 

Xoxo Sister Sanovich

Celebrating 12 months in the mission with her sweet "Sisters"

Beautiful SUNSET

Street view while we walk

Water park that we pass by ALL the time

Season 2 Episode 26 CARNAVAL JÁ COMEÇOU (Carnival has begun)

Ready for Carnival!!!

February 24, 2020 

OLÁ! This week was quite the adventure... let me tell you all about it!

Monday- We had a Noite Familiar with a member and her nephew and husband that are not members of the church. It was a great night, we talked about the Book of Mormon and how we all need to come unto Christ! It was a fun message to share with them especially because it was all four of us sisters here in the area!

Tuesday- We had lunch with a Irma and she had some kids stop by and eat with us, a member and his cousin. We shared a fun message and sang with them. Afterwards we went to visit a cool teenager we are teaching, her name is Gabby, and she is from Para, Belem! She just recently got here to Floripa and does not know very many people so we are glad we met her and can help her feel welcome to the area. She is super fun and is wanting to come to church this upcoming week so that will be awesome. Then, we met some fun people in the streets that told us that they were needing prayers. People will occasionally stop us and ask us to pray with them because they know that we are close to Christ. When this happens, we will usually pray with them and teach them a little bit more about prayer and Heavenly Father. We said a prayer for these people that were struggling and needing some help and hope. This is one of my favorite things that we can do as missionaries, give a little bit of hope to the people that are going through hard times!

Wednesday- We had some awesome lessons with people that are really progressing and are loving the gospel. We visited Sebastião, he was almost baptized last week but was still smoking so his baptism was postponed for a little bit. He is trying so hard to stop smoking because he wants to stop and get baptized. It is great to see his personal progress! Then we went to visit Mayara and Claudinette, they are so funny! We talked about how we can receive answers when we pray, it was cool to see them learning more about how to talk to our Heavenly Father!

District Meeting

Thursday- We went to a man’s house that does not believe in anything. It was not one of the best lessons that I have ever been in because that is such a different mindset than what we teach. However, he loves when we said a prayer with him, so that was good. Afterwards we went to an Irma’s house who has a son that just moved back in with her and we got to meet him for the first time. He is not going to church right now, but he told us that he wants to start going back.

Friday- We had our district meeting, where all of us had to give a quick training. It went well, and it was actually fun too!! We were also able to read some scriptures and help strengthen each other a little bit more! It was great! This meeting was probably the best part of our Friday this week!!!

District doing the DAB...

Saturday- CARNIVAL HAS STARTED!!! Carnival here definitely is not like they show it in the Disney movie “Rio”. It is pretty bad... But other than seeing things I didn’t EVER want to see or EVER see again the rest of my life. hahaha (I know I am a girl from Utah) but seriously they GO ALL OUT!

Saturday went well. We had a family night and the other Sisters had a baptism interview with the elders, so they came to our area and then they went back home. They had left later and once they were home they called us telling us they felt like they had walked through Babylon! Hahaha!! It’s an interesting and very different custom they have here, but we are all good! Carnival lasts until Wednesday, wish me and my eyes luck! Today wasn’t a total waste though, we ended up meeting some awesome people that have real potential to become some people we end up teaching long term!!

Sunday- We had an awesome lunch today! It was interesting though, because we called to confirm lunch with this family and they had forgotten and were already headed out of town to Rio Grande do Sul... The lady that ended up giving us lunch had not planned on having us come and eat with her, but she had a feeling to make a lasagna! She had cooked a lot of food for just her, her husband and her daughter. Then she got asked to give us lunch and she accepted. After our meal with them we headed to an Irma’s house and she told us that she had just prayed for an answer about whether or not she should come back to church. She told us that she had just finished praying when we showed up at her door. This was another testimony to me that we are all being looked out for!! It was a very special experience and it is so true how if we listen to the spirit we can always be guided to where we need to be!!

But that’s about it for this week!

I am so thankful that our Heavenly Father has a plan and a way for each of us!

LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!

Neighborhood

Smiling through this HEAT!

Beautiful SKY

People think I am from "Santa Maria" Brasil - Here is a license plate from Santa Maria

Eating some FRESH fruit in the streets - YUMMY!